So add Garner and Ellington…they deserve it! 😉
There is a famous anecdote when Toscanini came to Horowitz, whose daughter Vanda Vladimir had married, and they went to listen to Tatum, and as musicians of that caliber, they later said that they could not believe their ears or eyes what he presented to them there. And for the rest of his life he practiced scales and worked on technique…

Excluding Garner, Jamal, and Shearing, three absolute giants, is undoubtedly harsh. As difficult as it is to exclude them, I’d also have a hard time removing others; I think it’s fair to say you could double the length of this list and still exclude worthy names. At that level, it becomes more subjective because they influence each of us differently, and I wanted to include some pianists who perhaps don’t get the credit they deserve elsewhere. Thank you for highlighting those very important musicians!

Thank you very much! You’re right about Duke Ellington; you can hear his influence in the playing of most who came after him. Deciding who to leave off a list like this is often more difficult than deciding who to add.